NEET Spot Counselling Is Continuation Of Process To Fill Seats, Prospectus Conditions Applicable: Rajasthan High Court

Rajasthan High Court dismissed the petition filed against AIIMS, Jodhpur challenging the demand for a deposit of Rs. 5,00,000 from the petitioner who took admission pursuant to spot counselling in the college but then chose to vacate the seat mid semester.The bench of Justice Vinit Kumar Mathur observed that the condition of depositing the amount in the event of vacating the seat mid-semester was mentioned in the prospectus issued in 2023 and since the process of spot counselling was a continuation of the process of filling up of vacant seats in the PG program in 2023, it did not make any difference if the condition was not mentioned in the notification for spot counselling. The petitioner had secured a seat at AIIMS by participating in the spot counselling for which he had submitted his original documents but did not submit the deposit of the demand draft of Rs.5 lakhs. He joined the course in 2023 but eventually chose to discontinue and requested the college to return his original documents. This request was rejected on account of no deposit being submitted by the Petitioner. Against this, the writ petition was preferred. Pursuant to an interim order of the Court, the petitioner had deposited Rs. 2.5 Lakhs and had received his original documents, and now was praying for restraining AIIMS from raising the demand for the balance amount. It was the case of the Petitioner that there was no such condition for depositing a demand draft mentioned in the notification for the spot counselling based on which he had participated in the spot counselling. The Counsel submitted that the condition mentioned in the prospectus had no application in the notification for the spot counselling which was a separate process. Furthermore, it was submitted that pursuant to issuing the notification for the spot counselling, a subsequent notification was issued by the respondent incorporating the condition that in case a student resigned after accepting a seat, a penalty shall be imposed. The counsel argued that inclusion of this condition later, showed that when the petitioner appeared for the spot counselling, no such condition was in operation. On the contrary, the counsel appearing for the respondent submitted that spot counselling was a continuation of the process conducted for admitting students in the PG courses after issuing the prospectus which contained detailed procedure and hence, there was no need for issuing such detailed separate guidelines for spot counselling. The counsel further submitted that the seat that was vacated by the petition in the middle of the semester shall remain vacant throughout the session and the institute would have to bear the burden of non-joining of the course by the petitioner. After hearing the contention, the Court aligned with the submissions put forth by the counsel for the respondent and opined that the prospectus contained the condition of deposit in case any student left the course during counselling for compensating the losses incurred by AIIMS. Hence, the petitioner should have been aware of the same since the prospectus was applicable to admission into PG courses irrespective of not being mentioned in the notification for the spot counselling because spot counselling was a continuous process in filling up the seats in PG course for 2023. “This court is of the view that spot counseling held by the AIIMS, Jodhpur is a continuation of the process undertaken by it for filling up the vacant seats in Post Graduate Course in the year 2023. In these circumstances, the petitioner was under an obligation to deposit a demand draft of Rs.5,00,000/- (Rupees Five Lakh) as mentioned in the condition of the prospectus discussed above.”Furthermore, the Court observed that the subsequent notification by the respondent was only to clarify the position mentioned in the prospectus and could not mean that at the time of spot counselling, the condition was not in operation. The Court also highlighted that the seat vacated by the petitioner shall remain vacant for the entire session for which AIIMS shall suffer loss. In this background, the Court dismissed the petition and directed the petitioner to deposit the balance amount. Title: Dr. Amit Mundel v Union of India & Ors. Citation: 2025 LiveLaw (Raj) 11Click Here To Read/Download Order

NEET Spot Counselling Is Continuation Of Process To Fill Seats, Prospectus Conditions Applicable: Rajasthan High Court

Nupur Agrawal

Tags